Breeds of Chickens - i

The Iowa Blue was developed in the early 1900's near Decorah, Iowa. A folk legend tells the story of a white Plymouth Rock hen emerging from under a building with a clutch of chicks colored solid chestnut to striped. Old-timers tell the tale that the chicks were sired by a pheasant. The breed was carried by several Iowa hatcheries through the 1960s, but was nearly lost when the hatcheries went out of business. The breed was rescued from near e ...

Italian Naked Neck, or Collo nudo italiana, chickens comes from Veneto (North-East of Italy). They probably originally came from Africa.

The hens are excellent layers and the eggs are large and white (160-180 eggs a year, 58-62 g each). Their meat is delicate with thin skin. Their subcutaneous and abdominal fat is nearly absent.

They are very rustic and perfect for outdoor rearing, but poorly adapted to industrial production.

Italian Polish, or padovana, chickens are an ancient breed with uncertain origins. According to Darwin, it came from Poland. It probably arrived in Italy in XIV century, brought by Giovanni Dondi dell’Orologio, nobleman from Padua, eminent doctor and astronomer, fascinated by the beauty of those chickens.

The origin is anyway confused, mingling with the origin of the Polish and the Dutch, which is tuffled but not bearded. Many qu ...

Ixworth chickens were developed by Reginald Appleyard in 1932 in the East Anglian county of Suffolk, England, in the village of Ixworth. Mr. Appleyard (the inventor of the Appleyard Duck) was looking to create the ideal dual-purpose chicken. His aim was to create a fast-growing table chicken, with respectable laying ability. Development involved white Sussex, white Minorca, white Orpington, Jubilee, and Indian Game.

The Ixworth ...